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Chapter 9
Race and Ethnicity
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The Concept of Race
Race is based on some real or presumed physical, biological characteristic, such as skin color or hair texture, as well as a shared lineage.
Ethnic groups, in contrast, are defined on the basis of some real or presumed cultural characteristic such as language, religion, tradition, and cultural practices.
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3. Historical Thinking About Race
“Scientific” Explanations
In the 19th and 20th centuries there were scientific justifications for treating people of other races differently.
This led to “scientific” justifications for unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige.
Gregor Mendel’s work on genetics and heredity led to the development of Eugenics.
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4. Historical Thinking About Race
Cultural Explanations
Though “scientific” explanations of race continue to exist, a newer explanation based on social and cultural factors is more prevalent today.
In the second half of the 20th century, ideas of cultural superiority replaced those associated with biological superiority.
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5. The Fluidity of Racial Categories
There is nothing intrinsic about any racial group that makes it distinct from any other.
Race is a dynamic and fluid concept.
The hypodescent rule (also known as the one drop rule)
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6. Racial and Ethnic Identities
Many members from oppressed racial groups go to some lengths to identify with the dominant group.
Some assigned to a subordinate race physically resemble the dominant race.
Others straighten, curl, or color their hair.
Others lighten their skin.
Some undergo rhinoplasty.
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7. Majority-Minority Relations
Sociologically the definition of majority-minority is not numerical but based on access to power, property, and prestige.
The social construction of difference says that all majority and minority statuses are products of social definitions.
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8. Majority-Minority Relations
Stereotypes, Prejudices, and Discrimination
A stereotype is a generalization about an entire category of people.
Prejudice involves attitudes, beliefs, and feelings toward minorities (usually negative).
Discrimination is the unfavorable treatment arising from negative stereotypes of prejudice.
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9. Majority-Minority Relations
Intersectionality is the idea that members of any minority group are affected by the nature of their position in other arrangements of social inequality.
“Matrix of Oppression”
The converse is also true in that a person who holds a number of statuses that are highly valued in society is likely to be advantaged.
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10. Majority-Minority Relations
Patterns of interaction
Pluralism exists in societies where many groups are able to coexist without any of them losing their individual qualities.
Assimilation occurs when a minority group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group.
Segregation is the physical separation of majority and minority groups.
Genocide is the systematic attempt at eliminating an entire group of people.
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11. Majority-Minority Relations
Race, Ethnicity, and Consumption
Marketing to Minorities
White Consumption of Black Culture
Commercialization of Ethnicity
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Racism
Racism is the negative treatment of racial and ethnic groups.
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group is superior to other groups.
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Racism
Foundations of Racism
Social Structure and Racism
Culture and Racism
Racist Motives
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Racism
Institutional Racism
Race-based discrimination that results from the day-to-day operation of social institutions and social structures
The Role of Individuals in Institutional Racism
The “Invisibility” of Institutional Racism
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15. Social Movements and Race
Hate Groups
Most hate groups in the United States are white supremacist movements.
Examples include the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and neo-Nazi skinheads.
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16. Social Movements and Race
Civil Rights Movement
Resistance to the oppression of blacks and other minority groups
Started in the South in the mid-1950s
Honed a variety of techniques including boycotts, mass marches, freedom rides, and lawsuits
As a result Jim Crow laws in the South were dismantled
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17. Social Movements and Race
Collective Identity and Power Movements
Social movements that arose in the late 1960s and early 1970s (after civil rights)
Black Power Movement
Brown Power and La Raza
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18. Race and Ethnicity in Global Context
Ethnic Identity and Globalization
Some sociologists argue that globalization is not a threat to ethnic identity.
Ethnic identities are not fragile.
Globalization can be a force for the creation and proliferation of ethnic identity.
Ethnic identity and globalization are part of the same process.
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19. Race and Ethnicity in Global Context
Global Prejudice and Discrimination
Global Flows Based on Race and Ethnicity
Positive and Negative Flows
Racial and Ethnic Barriers
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20. Race and Ethnicity in Global Context
Ethnic Conflict Within Nation-States
Expulsion is the removal of a group (direct or voluntary) from a territory.
Ethnic Cleansing is the establishment by the dominant group of policies that allow for the forcible removal of another ethnic group.
Genocide is defined as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”
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